Pontis Engineering, Twenco and Siemens Gamesa have kicked-off a joint project seeking to demonstrate the welding of large thermoplastic composite structures. Furthermore, the use of thermoplastic resin will further enhance the recyclability of composite structures.
New developments in material technology enable the manufacturing of large fibre reinforced components using thermoplastic materials as a matrix instead of thermosets, where thermoplastics offer the possibility for recycling by re-melting or depolymerisation. An added advantage of thermoplastics is that they can be joined using welding technologies instead of paste adhesive. Currently, welding of thermoplastic parts up to 2.5 m has been demonstrated. The objective of the UP-WELD project is to evaluate and demonstrate the scale-up of current thermoplastic welding technology to enable welding of large size components with welds of over 100 m length. The project has received regional funding through the EU-funded MANUNET project.
